More Than Just An Entertainer

All too often we hear people bashing Donald Trump on his presidential run. People are distrustful of Trump’s presidential bid for several reasons, a lot of them claiming that he’s not qualified enough because he’s not a typical politician.

But that is exactly what qualifies him the most.

When it comes to criterion to run for president, the United States Constitution only has a few: a natural born citizen, at least 35 years old, and you must have lived in the United States at least 14 years. Back in the day, our founding fathers and our first presidents were normal people, none of them were typical politicians like we think of today. Some of the best presidents have been actors or farmers before stepping up for the presidential role; Donald Trump was a real estate developer. Since Trump is widely recognized as one of the wealthiest men in the world, he is in the limelight often and is viewed as an entertainer or celebrity of some sort, but that’s not his job, and that’s not the determining factor on whether or not he’d be a good president or a good "politician".

Many people don’t realize that Donald Trump has been involved in politics for quite some time now. Though he is not a career politician like many people think our presidential candidates should be, politics have always been something he was involved and interested in. As a businessman, of course Trump has paid close attention to laws, politics, and policies. He has written several books about business and economics that could be seen as political. More recently, before he officially announced his run, he has been almost like a political commentator. Before he ran, he had many supporters who liked his ideals and perspectives. He was featured on news channels and programs for political insight and his social media accounts consisted of political commentary. As someone who has been a fan of Donald Trump since before his presidential campaign, and as someone who follows politics outside of the election season, I always followed his websites and social media for his politics. To people who do not follow politics as much, it seems like Donald Trump literally just came out of the woodwork to run, but that’s not the case. When it comes to politics, names like Sarah Palin or Paul Ryan stick out to us as legitimate “politicians”. But Donald Trump is seen as one of those people. For political enthusiasts like myself, Donald Trump’s name has always been involved in politics from his books, to his political commentary.

So next time you want to say Donald Trump wouldn’t be a good president because he’s not a “politician”, please consider your facts and search for his political commentary and books from before he ran. You will see that in fact, Donald Trump has been involved in politics, though he is not a "politician", no. But neither is Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin, or John McCain. They are governors, former military, and public officials. When the United States was first formed, our founding father’s and former presidents weren’t “politicians”. They were businessmen, war heroes, authors, and scientists. Ronald Reagan, one of the best presidents was an actor. There is not exact definition or title for a politician, but I can tell you right now that Donald Trump is more than just an entertainer and his lack of a political title is what makes him so attractive to voters. It’s what makes him the most qualified to run.

College As Told By Junie B. Jones

The Junie B. Jones series was a big part of my childhood. They were the first chapter books I ever read. On car trips, my mother would entertain my sister and me by purchasing a new Junie B. Jones book and reading it to us. My favorite part about the books then, and still, are how funny they are. Junie B. takes things very literally, and her (mis)adventures are hilarious. A lot of children's authors tend to write for children and parents in their books to keep the attention of both parties. Barbara Park, the author of the Junie B. Jones series, did just that. This is why many things Junie B. said in Kindergarten could be applied to her experiences in college, as shown here.

When Junie B. introduces herself hundreds of times during orientation week:

“My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except I don't like Beatrice. I just like B and that's all." (Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, p. 1)

When she goes to her first college career fair:

"Yeah, only guess what? I never even heard of that dumb word careers before. And so I won't know what the heck we're talking about." (Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth, p. 2)

When she thinks people in class are gossiping about her:

“They whispered to each other for a real long time. Also, they kept looking at me. And they wouldn't even stop." (Junie B., First Grader Boss of Lunch, p. 66)

When someone asks her about the library:

“It's where the books are. And guess what? Books are my very favorite things in the whole world!" (Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, p. 27)

When she doesn't know what she's eating at the caf:

“I peeked inside the bread. I stared and stared for a real long time. 'Cause I didn't actually recognize the meat, that's why. Finally, I ate it anyway. It was tasty...whatever it was." (Junie B., First Grader Boss of Lunch, p. 66)

Abortion Bans Are Only A Small Part Of The Republican War On Women

This week, several states passed laws that ban abortion after six to eight weeks of pregnancy, before most women even know that they're pregnant. The most egregious of these is Alabama — the state has banned abortion except for in cases of danger to the mother. Exceptions in the cases of rape and incest were actively voted against by the state legislature. Under the new law, any doctor who is caught giving an abortion would be sentenced to 99 years in prison, and the woman would be charged with murder.

Apart from the fact that this explicitly violates the decision of Roe v. Wade (which is the point), this is only a small part of the slow but steady degradation of women's rights by Republicans in the United States. To anyone who believes that this is simply about people being "pro-life" or "saving the children," then tell them to look at what happens after the fetus is carried to term.

Republicans oppose forcing fathers to be involved in the lives of their children that were forcibly carried to term, desires to cut food stamps and make it more difficult to feed said child, cut funding for affordable housing to make it more difficult for them to find homes, cut spending to public education so these children can't move up the social ladder, and refuse to offer the woman or her child health insurance to keep them both healthy. What about efforts to prevent pregnancy? Republicans also oppose funding birth control and contraception, as well as opposing comprehensive sexual education. To them, the only feasible solution is to simply keep your legs shut. They oppose all of these things because it is, in their eyes, a violation of individual rights to force people to do something. The bill also makes women who get abortions felons, and felons can't vote. I'll let you finish putting those two together.

If you view it from this framework, it would seem like Republicans are being extremely hypocritical by violating the personal freedoms of pregnant women, but if you look at it from the view of restricting social mobility for women, then it makes perfect sense. The Republican dogma of "individual rights" and "personal responsibility" is a socially acceptable facade that they use to cover up their true intentions of protecting the status quo and protect those in power. About any Republican policy, ask yourself: does this disperse power or consolidate it? Whether it be education, healthcare, the environment, or the economy, Republicans love to keep power away from the average citizen and give it to the small number of people that they deem "deserving" of it because of their race, gender, wealth, or power. This is the case with abortion as well; Power is being taken from women, and being given back to men in a reversal of the Feminist Movement of the 1970s.

Republicans don't believe in systemic issues. They believe that everyone has the same opportunity to succeed regardless of what point they started. This is why they love capitalism so much. It acts as some sort of great filter in which only those who deserve power can make it to the top. It's also why they hate social policies; they think that helping people who can't help themselves changes the hierarchy in a negative way by giving people who don't "deserve" power, power. Of course, we know that just because you have money and power doesn't mean you earned it fair and square, and even if Republicans believe it, it wouldn't change anything because it wouldn't change how they want to distribute power.

In short, Republican policies, including abortion, leave the average American with less money, less protection, less education, worse health, less opportunity, fewer rights, and less freedom. This is NOT a side effect. This is the point. Regardless of what Republicans will tell you about "inalienable rights" and how everyone is equal, in reality, they believe that some people and groups are more deserving of rights than others, and the group that deserves rights the most are the ones "that will do the best with them." To Republicans, this group consists of the wealthy, the powerful, and the white — the mega-rich, the CEOs of large companies, gun owners and Christians.

So, who do Republicans think deserve power and give it to? People who look and think like them. This, however, begs the question: Who do they want to take it from?